"Twitter Deceived Spam Accounts"... Former Executive Files Complaint Ahead of Musk Trial

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] A whistleblower has revealed that social networking service (SNS) Twitter deceived federal regulators regarding cybersecurity and privacy protection and operated its security inadequately. This claim emerged amid Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s suspension of the acquisition over concerns about Twitter’s spam and fake accounts, and it is expected to significantly bolster Musk’s side in the legal dispute with Twitter.

According to the Washington Post (WP) and CNN on the 23rd (local time), Peiter Zatko, former Twitter security chief, submitted a whistleblower complaint last month to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the federal Department of Justice, and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) through the nonprofit legal organization Whistleblower Aid.

Zatko joined Twitter in November 2020 at the persuasion of Twitter founder Jack Dorsey and served as the security chief until January of this year. Known by the nickname "Mudge," he is a former hacker and a cybersecurity expert who previously worked at the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and Google, among others.

In the complaint, Zatko stated that Twitter falsely claimed to federal authorities that it had strong security measures against hackers and spam accounts. He asserted that at the time, half of the company’s servers were outdated equipment with vulnerable software. He said, "Twitter has serious and absurd flaws regarding privacy and security," and "I witnessed senior Twitter executives engaging in deceptive and misleading conversations." Zatko also claimed that company executives lacked both the ability and the willingness to fully understand the actual scale of bots (automated spam software) on Twitter.

Zatko said he raised security issues internally multiple times and attempted to formally notify the board of directors, but CEO Parag Agrawal blocked these efforts. After conflicts with senior Twitter executives, Zatko was ultimately fired in January. He explained that despite internal warnings, the company failed to address the issues, leading him to submit documents to the relevant authorities.

This whistleblowing has drawn attention as it surfaced amid Musk’s legal battle with Twitter after he terminated the $44 billion (approximately 59 trillion won) acquisition deal, citing Twitter’s failure to properly disclose data on fake accounts. Zatko’s revelations could strengthen Musk’s grounds for termination. Musk’s legal team has already issued a subpoena to Zatko. The legal dispute between the two parties is set to begin on the 17th of next month.

However, Whistleblower Aid emphasized that this whistleblowing is unrelated to Musk’s Twitter acquisition controversy. Zatko explained that the reason for the complaint is simply to uphold the promise to make Twitter safe for all users, including dissidents under authoritarian regimes, by using all possible legal means.

Given Zatko’s assertion that Twitter’s current security status is vulnerable to attacks from foreign governments such as Russia and China, potentially threatening U.S. national security, the political sphere is expected to pay close attention to this matter. Zatko also claimed that during Agrawal’s tenure as Chief Technology Officer (CTO), he attempted to comply with the Russian government’s demands for extensive surveillance to expand the Russian market. Following Zatko’s complaint, Senator Marco Rubio, the Republican ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, promised further investigations into Twitter.

After Zatko’s whistleblowing became public, Twitter issued a statement saying, "He was fired from Twitter in January due to ineffective leadership and poor performance," and "Based on what we have identified so far, his claims are generally inconsistent, inaccurate, and lack important context regarding Twitter and our privacy and data security practices." Twitter also criticized Zatko’s timing as opportunistic, stating that he is seeking attention at the expense of Twitter, its customers, and shareholders.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.